On Saturday, March 5th, TNRPCV hosted one of its largest events ever! We celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the PC in grand style at the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville. The doors opened at 4:00 with Tony Garcia (RPCV Tongo) from the Double Indenders performing some acoustic music along with refreshments and a slideshow of service pictures.

TNRPCV President Dave Keiser then kicked off the festivities with an introduction about the Tennessee Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and what we do. Next on the agenda was the Honorable Nashville Mayor Karl Dean for a few words. Mayor Dean stressed the importance of volunteerism, with a reminder that this is the Volunteer State! Mayor Dean also remarked on the volunteer efforts during the flood of 2010 to emphasize the importance of community service.

Next on the agenda was the presentation of the Phill Robinson Continuing Community Service Award, which was presented to Dr. Julia Lydon. Phill was one of the founding members of TNRPCV, and this annual award was established in his memory. In attendance were members of Phill’s family. Dr. Lydon was an PCV in Afganistan from 1966-1968. She received this award for her continued humanitarian efforts in the Nashville Community.

The last, and most popular, event was a panel of RPCVs who spoke of their experiences as a PCV, and took several questions from the audience.

On Tuesday, March 1st, the Tennessee Returned Peace Corps Volunteers gathered to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps. We did his in traditional style, with a potluck! Over 30 RPCVs brought a dish to share, and most were from your host country or a dish inspired by your Peace Corps experience. This was one of over 650 house parties scheduled around the world, and was promoted by the NPCA. We Skyped with Knoxville and learned about the needs in Zimbabwe and how we could possibly partner with NGOs in the field there.

Theme:
The theme proposed by the NPCA is food security. Or more specific, food insecurity. Food security is a term that refers to one’s consistent access to enough food to live a healthy life. A country’s food security is often determined by how many households in said country are considered food-secure, meaning they do not live in hunger or in fear of starvation. Worldwide around 1 billion people are food insecure due to chronic hunger and another 2 billion are intermittently food insecure. Additional info in the link below.